


Por Los Niños Luma.

by Bellagunn



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Cussing, Drunkenness, Día de los Muertos | Day of the Dead, Friendship, Gen, Halloween, Mentions of Myth & Folklore, One Shot, Religious Discussion, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 20:46:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16333175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bellagunn/pseuds/Bellagunn
Summary: Lewin Light isn't into slacious costume parties so he takes Osceola up on his offer for an excursion on Halloween.He never could have anticipated *this*.





	Por Los Niños Luma.

 

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay for the costume party?"

 

Lewin smiled up at Osceola's furrowed brow. "Nah man, aside from the situational irony of a bunch of exorcists celebrating a pagan holiday in the center of Christiandom it's not really my scene. Besides I feel like I've been on the wrong continent long enough."

 

Osceola barked out a short laugh. "Okeh then. We can key into the parroquia de San Jose. How are you on a horse?"

 

Lewin shrugged. "I won't fall off or complain about my ass falling asleep if that's what you are asking."

 

"Good enough ahessi. We may be late, pack light but be prepared to sleep rough. Meet me outside the recieving hall in an hour?"

 

"Yeah, I'll be there!" Lewin watched Osceola walk away for just a moment before he gathered his thoughts and turned towards the temporary quarters he was sharing with Arthur.

 

He was making enough money and was in Rome often enough to warrant going out and getting a more permanent residence, but something about leaving Angel behind (he flatly refused to live anywhere in Rome but the Vatican) felt wrong. So he stuck it out in close quarters, with sometimes unintentionally hilarious consequences.

 

Like now! Walking into the room he almost turned around and walked right back out again, packing be damned, but Arthur caught sight of him before he had the chance.

 

"Lightning! Good to see you my friend! Have you come to join in the festivities? We are pre-partying just in case the alcohol runs out later."

 

"Yer' ruinin the vibe baldy! You don't say "alcohol" like that! You sound like a twit! It's booze or hootch. Also the phrase is "pre-game", c'mon, get with it man! Quit bein' so dammed laaaaaaaame!"

 

Stars above! Lewin wasn't sure if he should laugh or cover his eyes. Shura Kirigakure was already very drunk and practically draped over Arthur's shoulder. The visual juxtaposition of her in a less than chaste nun outfit layered over Arthur's "accurate to the point of heresy" priest's cassock was mind bendingly bizzare. 

 

He felt like he just walked into something he would regret seeing later, probably when he got called in as a witness for a fraternization trial, but he quickly realized there were a few other familiar faces in the room. To cover up his moment of akwardness Lewin blew out a tense breath and slapped on a smile.

 

"No Angel, but thanks for the offer. I'm just grabbing a few things before I go out tonight. "

 

Arthur's face radiated concern. "Not alone, right? Tonight of all nights you need someone at your 6."

 

Lewin shook his head. "Not alone. Redarm and I are gonna go bum around Mexico a bit, get into the Día de los Muertos spirit." 

 

"I thought that celebration didn't start until tomorrow?" 

 

Lewin shoved his hand in his pockets and shrugged at Arthur's confusion. "I didn't ask so I couldn't tell you. But I need to go pack a bag for an overnight."

 

"Where are you sleeping?"

 

"Redarm said we might be roughing it."

 

Arthur nodded decisively. "Take my bug out bag; it's in my closet next to my spare boots."

 

Lewin smiled warmly. "Thanks. That saves me some time and effort."

 

Arthur snorted. "Certainly, I've seen that pigsty you call a room. I doubt you would be able to even find enough of your gear to fill your bag."

 

Lewin laughed. "True."

 

"Good now that yer settled you gonna do a shot with us?!" Shura shook an unlabeled bottle of clear liquor in Lewin's direction.

 

Lewin shrugged and took the glasses Arthur handed him, holding them steady so Shura could pour.

 

They each held their individual drinks while Arthur tried his best to be poignant.

 

"To your coffin; may it be made of 100 year-old oak. I will plant the seed tomorrow." 

 

"Kanpai!" Shura enthused.

 

Lewin simply nodded and tossed his drink back. As the liquor hit his palate he was pleasantly suprised to find it was peppery, smoky, and not nearly as harsh as the vodka flavor he expected. He looked at his shot glass in the light to make sure it was empty, then passed it back to Arthur. 

 

"Nice stuff, thanks for the drink. I gotta grab that bag and get out the door before Redarm leaves without me."

 

Arthur made a shooing motion with his arms as his hands were already occupied with pouring more drinks. Lewin watched dispassionately as Shura and Arthur pounded another shot. He then resolved to come back as late in the next day as possible. Arthur with a hangover wasn't something he wanted to be within twenty yards of if he could help it.

 

It was a matter of moments for him to grab Arthur's bag and a matter of seconds for him to make his escape from the raucously loud party before the party. Once out in the hallway he breathed a sigh of relief and took up a casual pace back to the receiving hall. 

 

As he walked up Lewin could make out Osceola's broad shoulders and white mane over the heads of the other personnel hurrying about their last business. Halloween was always a busy night for exorcisms, it was a miracle that any of them got the day off.

 

"Lo!" He said loud enough to get Osceola's attention just in time for the floor to pitch up and smack him in the face.

 

"Owwww." Lewin laid prone on the cold marble for a moment, absolutely stunned by his sudden loss of control. 

 

"Lightning!? Are you hurt?!" Osceola's concerned face hovered over him like a specter before he shook his head and heaved himself off the floor.

 

"Shit! I'm fine but I just did a shot with Kirigakure and Angel, whatever the hell it was went down a bit too easy and just now hit me like a literal boot to the head!"

 

Osceola laughed. "Clear liquor in an unlabeled bottle?"

 

Lewin nodded. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

 

"Who do you think gifted it to her! Kirigakure is a semi professional drinker; considering she has to deal with our beloved Paladin on a regular basis I really can't find fault." 

 

Osceola chuckled."That was a bottle of Sotol from home that was keeping her company this evening."

 

"Fuck, how much proof was that!?"

 

Osceola smirked. "Proof enough obviously. Let's get on our way if you are still willing?"

 

"Yeah, I'm good but if I had done more than one shot you would have been carrying me the rest of the way!"

 

"Noted, come then."

 

Osceola flipped through his keyring and pulled a wicked looking iron key forward. He inserted it into one of the doors in the hallway and turned it. Stepping through after Osceola opened the door Lewin stepped out into strong sunlight that somehow found it's way around the brim of his booney hat. 

 

The 7 hour time difference was a little jarring but like most of the order he was fairly quick to acclimate. Having ready access to magic keys that made near instantaneous travel commonplace necessitated a hearty constitution and a flexible world view. 

 

Blinking to adjust his eyes he turned to take in the faded wooden gate of the church yard they had just walked out of. Having spent the last few months bumming around the gilded marble splendour of headquarters, Lewin was suprised by the ramshackle feel of the tumbled down bricks and hogwire fencing flanking the gate. 

 

It was comfortably homey, chickens and all.

 

"We have a little walk to meet a friend who has brought horses down for us."

 

"Sounds good, lead the way."

 

Osceola and Lewin walked the dirt road in companionable silence taking in the muted colors of late October. Here and there haciendas, both abandoned and tumbling down as well as lived in and lovingly maintained, dotted setbacks from the roadside. 

 

Despite the warm weather the walk wasn't too strenuous. Scrubby oak trees bore the brunt of the sunlight, rendering the dusty ribbon of earth underneath them a dappled greyish tan. 

 

Osceola called out a very casual greeting to a well dressed man who was leaning against a battered blue horse trailer. "¡Hola, chavo! ¿Qué onda?" 

 

"¡Ay cabrón, me espantaste!" The man threw his arms up in mock suprise before he laughed and hauled Osceola in for a manly backslapping one armed hug. 

 

Lewin tried to follow the rest of the conversation but he was quickly distracted by the horses who were busy tearing up some long grasses on the side of the road. He watched them watch him as they continued to forage with all the calm assurance of pampered well cared for pets.

 

He didn't register that Osceola was talking to him until he felt the hand on his shoulder. "Which one would you like to ride?"

 

Lewin regarded the horses carefully before coming to a decision. "I'll take the white one, so Angel won't bitch later when I tell him about our trip." He put on a cultured accent and pitched his voice deeper. "But Lightning! You should have picked the white horse! It would have been more aesthetically pleasing to my mind's eye!"

 

Osceola laughed heartily at Lewin's spot on impression. "Si! Yes I can see it! Of course you would pick the most spirited of the two beats, you must remember to tell him that as well!"

 

Lewin frowned slightly. "Will that be a problem?"

 

"I'm sure that with your exceptional talent as a trainer you can manage one completely non-demonic horse."

 

"Well, when you put it that way...."

 

The both chuckled and gave their tack a quick once over before mounting. Osceola picked the direction and Lewin followed him off the road and through the oaks.

 

"So where are we headed to?"

 

"A place where my family settled in generations past. The site has shifted over the years and now everyone lives a bit further out towards Nacimiento, but I still like to visit the old grounds when I can."

 

"Cool. Are we expecting anyone there."

 

"Expecting, no. But I do hope that at least some of the family comes to visit."

 

They continued on in silence with the exception of the jingle of tack and the irregular hoofbeats of horses.

 

After a while Lewin was half dosing in the saddle, letting his horse have it's head. The sunlight was coming at an angle giving everything around them a warm golden glow. When Osceola signaled to stop he was a little surprised, there wasn't anything around them for miles, at least not that he could see.

 

"This is it?"

 

"Yes. We are nearby but not too close to the well. The water is still good so it will be best if we set up camp here."

 

"Sounds good to me. What are we doing with the horses?"

 

"Here, watch." Osceola dismounted. He held the reins loosely while he took the saddle off his mount. He then removed the bridle, bit and reins, leaving his horse in a halter with a lead rope. He tied off the lead to a remnant of fence making sure there was plenty of rope for his horse to move comfortably.

 

Lewin copied him and they took a few minutes to water the horses and give them a treat.

 

Lewin surveyed the space around him. He didn't sense anything overtly malevolent nearby, but his training and years of field experience prompted him to ask. "Do you want me to set up a protective barrier?"

 

Osceola shook his head. "No."

 

Lewin shrugged but didn't press the issue, if anything decided to try to take a bite out of then it would quickly find that they were more than than could be easily chewed. 

 

Without the work of building the barrier setting up camp was a simple affair. They laid out their bed rolls and Osceola procured two blankets; one for them to sit on and one that he began laying out a seemingly random assortment of objects on.

 

"What are you doing there?"

 

"I am laying out the ofrendas por Los  
Niños."

 

Lewin parsed the statement in his mind......the offerings for the children..... he watched in curious silence as the items on the blanket were arranged with care.

 

All around the border of the blanket, which was woven in a vibrant rainbow of color, were bright golden yellow flowers. Osceola had sprinkled them liberally with water, presumably to help keep them from wilting too quickly. Their light earthy sweetness perfumed the air. The smell complimented the tiny sugar sculptures of colorfully decorated skulls and what appeared to be slippers?

 

Osceola laughed. "No, not slippers, coffins."

 

Lewin blushed, he hadn't realized he was talking out loud. Looking again he could just make out the tiny skeletons nestled inside their frosted boxes.

 

"The flowers are caléndulas, the sweetness of their smell draws the spirits near and tells them they are welcome. The calaveras de azúcar are here as treats to entice and entertain. I did not bring much else, just a few candles and another bottle of Sotol."

 

Lewin smiled and flopped back on the blanket. "It's beautiful man. Can I put something out?"

 

"Sure!"

 

Lewin pulled Arthur's bugout bag a bit closer to him and began digging through it. He came up with a few chemlights and a package of thin mint Girl Scout cookies.

 

"You carry cookies in your emergency pack?" Osceola raised one white eyebrow elegantly in suprise. 

 

Lewin grinned unrepentantly. "It's Angel's bag. He has an unhealthy addiction to these things and is paranoid about running out. He has boxes stashed all over the place!"

 

"I had wondered! We were investigating a church where all the communion wafers kept mysteriously disappearing. The priest thought it may have been the work of demons but in fact it was the children of the woman who cleaned the chapel! Arthur scolded them to tears for stealing the body of Christ before he presented them with boxes of cookies. "Here!" he said. "Take these! They taste better anyway!" and all I could think of is Dios mío! Where did he pull the cookies out from!?!"

 

Lewin lost it, laughing hysterically on the ground. "If he could convince someone to give him a seal tattoo for his cookie stash I'm sure he would be thrilled to have one!"

 

Osceola and Lewin laughed together at the peculiarities of their mutual friend as Lewin added his offerings. They opened up the bottle of Sotal and watched the shadows shift slowly across the ground.

 

Lewin's dreamy lassitude was disrupted by Osceola's deep voice. "Here they come Lewin, look!"

 

Lewin tilted his head back to follow Osceola's line of sight was struck speechless by what he saw.

 

A glimmering wave of golden light drifted towards them, like a sunbeam given weight and form. It oscillated and swelled into abstract, swirling forms before it got close enough for Lewin to make out the details of it's constitutive parts.

 

"Butterflies?" He asked in a awe hushed voice. 

 

"Every year the spirits of the ancestors return to remind us that even though we don't know what is to come in life it is still beautiful and death is no different. Both are to be celebrated and embraced fully."

 

Lewin soaked in the moment and delighted when a few brave souls, their warm orange, black and white wings beating irregularly, landed among the offerings on the blanket. They thirstily cavorted over the flowes, sucking down nectar greatfully. They curiously examined the other offerings, seemingly caressing the brightly colored lines of icing ornamentation. 

 

"Do you feel it? It's like Chuchi, but not?"

 

Osceola nodded. "I have no reason to believe that the legends are wrong, perhaps it is the lucky few who become such beautiful creatures. We condemn Beelzebub for being the lord of flies but we must remember he is the lord of butterflies as well. All of Assiah is balance, contradiction. As much as we would like Gehenna and the problems it brings to go away, without Gehenna, Assiah would stagnate, all her magic gone. And Gehenna without Assiah to shape it would be scattered like a cloud."

 

Lewin had nothing to add to Osceola's statement. He very keenly held the same opinion but he also felt torn. On one hand moments like these, though few and far between, demonstrated clearly that is was possible for Assiah and Gehenna to coexist peacefully. But there was a certain taint that came from Gehenna that tended to twist things of Assiah to ruination. A taint that he felt inside of himself every single day. 

 

He couldn't help he thinking that, even though he agreed with Osceola, they were both fools. Idealistic brave fools who looked death in the face with a smile, on a daily basis.

 

He snorted at his own dark humor and took another pull from the bottle. He opened the sleeve of cookies that hadn't become an offering and handed Osceola half. Amazingly the chocolate and mint complimented the Sotol, it burned and soothed at the same time.

 

They watched as the shadows grew deeper and the golden light faded. When the last of the butterflies were long gone Osceola silently took up the task of lighting the candles while Lewin popped the chemlights he brought, adding their green glow to the altar.

 

The sky overhead was rapidly shifting from a faded denim blue to a deep indigo. An owl called out nearby and when no owl returned it's call Osceola yelled out to it.

 

"¿Qué chingados quieres?" He waited a moment and when he heard a faint echo of "¿Qué chingados quieres?" in response he snorted.

 

"What the fucking hell was that!?"

 

"Hoklonote-she. A shapeshifter that likes to eat hunters. They are actually quite shy and prefer to lure their prey in by repeating their thoughts and words. Just ignore it and it won't bother you."

 

Lewin pulled his hat off and scratched his head. "Good to know. Are you sure about that barrier?"

 

Osceola laughed. "I'm sure ahessi. It will be fine, we are protected tonight by Santa Muerte."

 

"Didn't the Vatican condemn the veneration of Santa Muerte at the highest level."

 

Osceola shrugged. "What they don't know wont hurt me, besides, it's immoral to actively destroy belief in the one thing that we all have in common as mortal beings. In these things the Vatican is not always right."

 

"Yeah, I agree with that. I think sometimes I would be better off working for another organization but the fact is True Cross is really the top dog with the best chance of doing the most good."

 

"Yes, I have similar feelings. There are others but they are even less desirable. Better the devil you know!"

 

"I can drink to that!" Lewin took a swig from the bottle and passed it back to Osceola. 

 

"The glow from those chemlights is pretty impressive, I didn't think the couple I put out would be quite so bright!"

 

Osceola froze in the midst of drinking and coughed harshly as he choked on the liquor. 

 

"Not chemlights!" He rasped out lowly. "Look again!"

 

Lewin blinked and realised that the glow was steadily rising from the grass just on the other side of the altar and not from the chemlights as he first thought. While it was a similar shade of bright grassy green the color was deeper somehow, more intense and......glittery. 

 

He frowned. Not glittery but blinking in and out..........thousands of small lights blinking in and out asynchronously, like green stars rising into the air.

 

Osceola had recovered his voice but he still spoke barely above a whisper. "We usually don't have them this far north or this time of year, this is truly a blessing from Santa Muerte!"

 

"Fireflies." Lewin breathed softly, just as afraid to disturb the moment as Osceola. 

 

"The little souls, Los Niños."

 

Lewin was suprised to feel something other than unquenchable curiosity and wonder. He didn't always understand what people meant when they said they felt sad or melancholic. He had feelings, sure, just not ones that aligned with he majority of humanity, which was one of the reasons why social situations caused him so much trouble. Foot in mouth thy name is Lewin Light.

 

But here and now he could feel something like a mother's lament, a cry against injustice and a bit of rage at the unfeeling vagaries of the unfathomable universe. He was startled to find tears in his eyes.

 

"What happened here?" He asked Osceola shakily.

 

"Many things, too many to say but this was a site of much suffering and hope. I am here because I am the child of survivors." Osceola paused thoughtfully. "The same could be said of any living thing but there are specific traumas, specific horrors that can befall a people and those memories last over generations."

 

"The children here?"

 

"They died in various ways; stolen and murdered by slavers, sickened by famine and harsh living conditions. The few that survived were then taken by smallpox. The long walk that brought us here, made us leave and come back many times. It was only because of this restless movement that some survived, dodging death unknowingly like stepping over a sleeping rattlesnake."

 

Lewin nodded his understanding and reached for the bottle of liquor. Burdened with a painful feeling of loss for the first time in his life he was unsure the appropriate response. Like many who find themselves in that situation he resolve to get himself absolutely plastered.

 

The last thing he remembered was watching the tiny green lights dancing cheerfully among the stars.

 

~☆~

Lewin came too the next day with a horse's ass in his face and the taste of something awful in his mouth. 

 

"Osceola? What hell am I doing?"

 

"You are riding a horse."

 

"Yes, but why am I backwards?"

 

Osceola shrugged. "You kept falling off. You turned around and then you stopped falling off. The horse didn't seem to mind so I left you that way, do you want the reins back?"

 

Lewin groaned. "You drive. I'm still drunk apparently."

 

Osceola laughed. "Lucky for you we are almost back to the church. We can leave the horses there and Cotza will take them home after church."

 

"That's right, today is Sunday isn't it."

 

"Si ahessi, a day of rest. We are here, let me help you down."

 

Osceola helped Lewin slide down akwardly from his mount before he opened the wooden gate and led the horses into the churchyard. It was early enough that no one else was there yet, except for possibly the priest who was preparing the chapel. Someone had kindly left out water and oats for the horses who nickered in delight and happily stayed next to the trough when Osceola returned to the gate.

 

"Ready?" 

 

"God no." Lewin moaned. "But let's get it over with."

 

Osceola nodded and used his key on the gate, with one arm he hauled Lewin forward. Lewin took five stumbling steps before he collided with a black clad figure.

 

"Good god! It's like Dawn of The Dead around here! Am I the only one who didn't get stupendously drunk last night or what!?"

 

Large hands grasped his shoulders firmly and Lewin found himself staring up into the smirking face of Shiro Fujimoto. 

 

"Fuck off." He rasped.

 

"Ooh, feisty when you're hung over huh!? I like it." Shiro laughed and gave Lewin a small shake. 

 

"Do that again and I swear I will throw up on you!" Lewin mumbled. "I'm not hungover, I'm still drunk."

 

"And dehydrated, and in need of food." Osceola added. "He ate half a sleeve of thin mint cookies and drank more than half a bottle of Sotol."

 

Shiro winced. "I don't know which is more painful, the fact that you ate Angel's precious cookies or that you allowed Osceola to taint you with his demonic spirits!"

 

Osceola snorted.

 

"Do you mind if I take over from here? I have a bag of tricks down in the infirmary that will make you less likely to need your stomach pumped."

 

Lewin waved his hand around lethargically in a gesture that was meant to be like "yeah sure fine" but came out more like "oh dear god, why?"

 

"All right then, I got this sad sack. See you later Osceola."

 

"Thank you for coming with me Lewin, Shiro, take good care of him."

 

"Will do!" Shiro grunted out as he got his shoulder under Lewin's arm so he could support him while he walked.

 

Before they got very far Lewin half turned back towards Osceola. Ignoring Shiro's concerned noises he shouted out "‘Tehecvkvrēs!"

 

Osceola laughed and raised a hand as he walked backwards for a moment. "Of course Lewin, we do work together after all! Be well!"

 

Groaning at the effort it took to just say a simple goodbye Lewin leaned heavily against Shiro again. "Ouch! Little guys like you shouldn't be so damn heavy!"

 

Lewin spluttered into braying laughter. "Tell that to my horse!" 

 

Shiro rolled his eyes behind his tinted glasses. "Com'on cowboy, let's go get you sobered up."

 

"Whatever you do, don't take me back to my room!"

 

Shiro's forehead creased with confusion. "Why not?"

"Arthur and Shura were both drinking Osceola's Sotol and they had like, a four hour start on me."

 

"Holy fucking hell in a handbasket! Both of them!? Together!? Hung over at the same time!?" 

 

Lewin nodded very slowly. 

 

The look of dawning horror on Shiro's face was one that Lewin would treasure for the rest of his life.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for hanging in there through my abuse of language(s); with the holiday coming up I have been feeling a certain way.
> 
> Hugs!
> 
> Chi pisa la chike!


End file.
